Bullseye Buzz: Poll Questions and Poll Answers

By Mark Eting

Bullseye Strategy Special Correspondent

Good news! Your opinions still matter. From marketers to manufacturers, and Silicon Valley to South Florida, people want to know what you think, and then provide that to you. How convenient is that? In this week’s Bullseye Buzz, we have a trio of stories about changes you’re asking for.

Consumers: “Hey Brands! You Don’t Need To Stop Advertising”

You heard that right. In a survey conducted recently by GlobalWebIndex, only 28% of respondents said that brands should stop advertising as a result of the COVID Crisis. In another survey by Kantar, only 8% said stopping advertising should be a priority for brands. More than 75%, however, think they should adjust the focus of ads to be centered around how the brand is “helpful in new everyday life”.

Expect those changes to be made by brands that haven’t already pivoted their messaging.

New Things Cooking Up at LinkedIn

Speaking of surveys, LinkedIn appears to be developing an option for poll questions, giving you the ability to ask friends, colleagues, and followers for their opinions. While not entirely new, (polling had been available in LinkedIn Groups until it was removed in 2014), this could be an addition both users and marketers were looking for. It’s expected to be available for both desktop and mobile apps, and within groups.

But wait, there’s more! We’re hearing that they’re also testing a new hashtag mode that would showcase broader conversations attached to a specific hashtag.

There’s no official word yet on when these might launch, but Bullseye Buzz will keep an ear to the pavement on this buzz-worthy development for you.

Facebook Long Story

No, this isn’t news about the movie The Social Network. Facebook is experimenting with stories that last up to 3 days. That’s a significant change to the entire concept of the “only for 24 hours” model that made stories popular on sister-platform Instagram, but Facebook has hinted that their older, less-familiar audience just needs some extra time to get used to them. The platform is seeing significant growth in usage of its Stories feature, but it still lags behind Instagram. Stories are already expected to overtake feed posts across all social platforms as the most common way of sharing. For marketers, this may be the answer they were looking for to make Facebook Stories more appealing.